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Burmese Days (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

by George Orwell (Author), Emma Larkin (Introduction) "U Po Kyin, Sub-divisional Magistrate of Kyauktada, in Upper Burma, was sitting in his veranda ..." (more)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; Re-issue edition (4 Jun 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141185376
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141185378
  • Product Dimensions: 19.9 x 12.9 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 26,397 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #12 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > O > Orwell, George
    #14 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Orwell, George

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Product Description

Product Description

Set in the days of the Empire, with the British ruling in Burma, Burmese Days describes both indigenous corruption and Imperial bigotry, when 'after all, natives were natives – interesting, no doubt, but finally only a "subject" people, an inferior people with black faces'. Against the prevailing orthodoxy, Flory, a white timber merchant, befriends Dr Veraswami, a black enthusiast for Empire. The doctor needs help. U Po Kyin, Sub- divisional Magistrate of Kyauktada, is plotting his downfall. The only thing that can save him is European patronage: membership of the hitherto all-white Club. While Flory prevaricates, beautiful Elizabeth Lackersteen arrives in Upper Burma from Paris. At last, after years of 'solitary hell', romance and marriage appear to offer Flory an escape from the 'lie' of the 'pukka sahib pose'.


About the Author

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in India in 1903. He was educated at Eton, served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, and worked in Britain as a private tutor, schoolteacher, bookshop assistant and journalist. In 1936, Orwell went to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and was wounded. In 1938 he was admitted into a sanatorium and from then on was never fully fit. George Orwell died in London in 1950. Emma Larkin is the pseudonym for an American journalist who was born and raised in Asia, studied the Burmese language at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and covers Asia in her journalism from her base in Bangkok. She has been visiting Burma for close to ten years.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
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U Po Kyin, Sub-divisional Magistrate of Kyauktada, in Upper Burma, was sitting in his veranda. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Orwell's four great novels, 23 Jul 2004
By Anthony Lynas (Leicester, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
That the imagery and language of 1984 have become so indelibly printed on the minds of modern society should be enough on its own to make people investigate Orwell's other novels. Sadly, this isn't the case so most people miss out on the joys of the greatest English writer of the 20th Century.

Burmese Days is Orwell's homage to the Raj, if you like; a caustic look at the miserable and meaningless existence of ex-pats in the dying days of the Empire. Like all Orwell's writing, it is informed by his own personal experiences. He also writes with a clarity and simplicity that means his images and meanings are never in doubt.

Ultimately, Burmese Days is a tragedy and there is scant little hope or jollity to be found anywhere in it, but this doesn't detract from a wholly engaging read. Like Homage to Catalonia, Orwell's great work about the Spanish Civil War, you are left understanding what life was like for the writer in his days in the service of the Crown. As with all Orwell's novels except, ironically, 1984, the author's humanist tendencies shine through, meaning you feel sympathy and empathy with everyone in the book; Orwell is not helping you to understand the processes of life, rather their impact, in the hope that you can do something about it.

Just so you know, the four Orwell novels everyone should read are 1984, Animal Farm, Coming up for Air and Burmese Days (in that order), and everyone should also read Homage to Catalonia and The Road to Wigan Pier as well. His essays are equally wonderful and the most startling thing about all his writing is how relevant its themes and observations still are 60 or 70 years on.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating historical insight and a captivating story, 1 Jul 2005
By A. A. M. Weyenbarg "T Adams" (Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Like most of Orwell's novels, 'Burmese Days' is principally about social alienation, here against the backdrop of a remote jungle outpost of the British empire in the 1920s. The book is steeped in the atmosphere of the country in which it is set, the oppressive climate, the colour of the jungle and the native population, the repulsively racist and materialistic circle of English businessmen and colonial administrators among whom Flory, the main character, socializes at the 'European Club'.

You get the impression that Flory is actually the same misanthropic ineffectual character that appears in all Orwell's novels (a portrait of Orwell himself presumably), although in 'Burmese Days' he is in his formative stage, reluctant to take a confrontational stand against the colonialist attitudes which surround him.

The novel is half satire, half tragedy, and catches the contrast between the beauty of the tropical backdrop and the moral ugliness which pervades the existence of most of the characters, Burmese and Europeans alike. Totally captivating, this book left me unable to shake off the stifling atmosphere it evoked for days. Always the sign of good writing...

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Orwell's forgotten masterpiece, 22 Jun 2002
A work of amazing power which deserves to rank up there with 1984 and Animal Farm. Orwell delivers a wonderful character study of Flory (the main character)and uses the novel to express his own absolute disgust at the way the British Empire was run. Some of the passages contain such wonderful insight into the human condition that they stay in the brain forever. If the ending does not leave you moved, you're made of stone.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, if rather horrible to the modern reader
An interesting and in many places rather distasteful picture of life in Burma under British rule. Most of the characters of all races and nationalities are rather unpleasant,... Read more
Published 13 months ago by John Hopper

4.0 out of 5 stars on the empire
Orwell's first novel. He considered it to contain too many purple passages, but this is an important description of the oppression of empire, particularly its psychological impact... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Cole Davis

5.0 out of 5 stars Pox Britannica
George Orwell's picture of the British Indian Empire is a world of real and mental violence, pure racism, provocations by and manipulations of indigenous rebellions, corruption,... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Luc REYNAERT

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Orwellian
This was Orwell's first novel, but it doesn't read like it. Perhaps his imagery is a little more polished in 1984 and Animal Farm, but it's all here at the beginning one way or... Read more
Published 24 months ago by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley

5.0 out of 5 stars Like being there, both in space and time...
I picked up "Burmese Days" in a local market in Mandalay, heading towards Bagan..
Already fascinated about Myanmar and by its culture and history, well... Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2007 by L. P. M. Terribile

5.0 out of 5 stars A disturbing reality
Orwell's depiction of British colonial rule reveals the foul racism of British imperialism and the dogmatism of its offspring. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2007 by Conor Harris Wilson

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving love story
Flory is the main character living amongst the locals in Imperial Burma where he fall's for a young English girl. Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2006 by Bobby

5.0 out of 5 stars The End of Empire
Orwell was himself a Colonial policeman and this experience seared an impression of the last gasps of the Raj into his psyche, allowing him to express the anger he felt in his... Read more
Published on 22 April 2006 by Mark Kobayashi-Hillary

5.0 out of 5 stars Burmese Days Review
I rank two novels as my absolute favourites. 'Burmese Days' and Somerset Maugham's 'The Narrow Corner', in several ways similar. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Blair Into Orwell - Catharsis or Crisis?
It is mainly forgotten that Eric Blair spent a good long time in Burma as an agent of the Imperial government. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2003 by A. Reynolds

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